Then, Conan turned around, along with the woman beside him.

Ninian saw a woman with a face strikingly similar to hers, and she was smiling while she held Conan’s hand.

At that moment, Ninian felt her blood freeze.

Who was she? Conan’s crush?

Ninian had been with Conan for seven years. Why did she never know that he had a crush?!

Her heart spasmed in pain. She wanted to leave, but Conan called out to her. “You’ve arrived, Ninian.”

“Ninian Springs? Conan Stone’s secretary?”

“She looks so similar to Rose Charlemagne!”

“Don’t you know? She’s just a replacement. I heard that during the years Rose wasn’t around, Conan Stone got a replacement. It must have been Ninian Springs!”

Everyone stared at her while they talked about her.

Those words kept pouring into her ears, and Ninian felt as if someone had seized her throat. She could not breathe.

“Hello, Miss Springs.” Rose went over to Ninian and sized her up. “I’m sorry, I heard from Conan that you don’t like such banquets, but I really wanted to see you, so I asked him to invite you over.”

She saw the provocation in Rose’s eyes, and Ninian clenched her fists.

“You wanted to see me?”

So, Conan did not cancel the engagement for her. It was because his crush came back.

He wanted Ninian to doll herself up for the banquet because he wanted his crush to see what her replacement looked like.

She felt as if someone had driven a knife into her heart, and Ninian felt her legs giving out. She was about to collapse.

“I heard from someone that you look like me. Conan, do you think we look alike?” Rose raised her head and asked Conan sweetly.

Conan smiled and said nonchalantly, “It’s just a coincidence. She can’t compare to you.”

At his words, Ninian’s heart hurt so much that she staggered backward.

She turned around and wanted to leave, but Rose stopped her.

“Miss Springs, I haven’t toasted you for taking care of Conan in my place for so long. He’s really picky, so you must have had a hard time with him.”

She gave off such a high-and-mighty air because she was the one Conan truly liked, while Ninian was just the side hoe.

People’s gazes fell on her, and they looked at her as if she was a joke.

Ninian forced a smile. “That’s my job. I was being paid for it, so it’s not hard for me.”

“You must have done plenty of other things besides work, right?” Rose raised her voice and chuckled in a magnanimous fashion. “But I’m back now. You don’t need to do certain things in my place anymore.”

Ninian looked at Conan, who stood expressionlessly in place and did not even spare her a single glance.

It was as if all that was happening had nothing to do with him.

Ninian nodded in disappointment. “Alright. I understand.”

She turned around to leave but ended up knocking into an attendant who was holding flutes of red wine.

Red wine spilled on her and ruined her expensive gown.

Rose was shocked. “Are you okay, Miss Springs? Your gown is ruined! I’ll have an attendant bring you a new one. We can talk once you change.”

“There’s no need.”

Compared to the kind and generous Rose, Ninian felt as pathetic as a loser.

When Conan saw that Ninian’s gown was dirty and that she nearly fell, he wanted to help her, but Rose had grabbed his hand before he could do it.

“Conan, since Miss Springs doesn’t need my help and the auction is about to start, let’s head in.”

Conan nodded and retracted his hand. He just gave Ninian a look. “Go back and change. Don’t catch a cold.”

They then left without sparing her another glance.

The people around her left as well, but Ninian remained rooted to the spot. She did not move even after a long time had passed.

At that moment, she was completely disappointed in Conan.

Ninian never knew that she was just a replacement. But when she met Rose, plenty of the things that had puzzled her in the past finally made sense.

Conan liked it when she wore white dresses because Rose loved white dresses.

Conan liked it when she wore her hair long because Rose had long hair.

Conan refused to let her dye her hair because Rose’s hair was black.

Even the handbags he gave her were in the styles that Rose liked.

Ninian knew very well that the handbag Rose carried tonight was the one in the same series as the handbags Conan had given her duplicates of.

Ninian looked down, and she teared up.

When she returned to her place, Ninian curled up on the floor while still in her ruined gown. She looked outside at the moon and let her mind wander.

She remembered the first time she met Conan seven years ago. They had met in a bar.

At that time, she needed money, so she worked at a bar and met him.

She immediately caught his fancy and got her to work as his secretary.

As time passed, she grew to like Conan and became his lover.

At that time, he never made their relationship public, and she thought that it was only a matter of time before he would do it.

But at this very moment, she knew that no matter how long she waited, she would never become his girlfriend or his wife.

At that, she finally decided to leave.

The next morning, she got up early in order to hand in her resignation letter.

When she went downstairs, she saw Conan.

He had arrived early in the morning. Knowing that she was still sleeping, he did not bother her.

He knew that she loved the buns from South Street, so he bought some this morning.

Ninian did not have too much of a reaction when she saw him.

“You’re awake?” But Conan was really enthusiastic. “I bought the buns you love. I queued up for a long time for them. Have some.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Ninian bent down, changed into her shoes, and intended to leave.

When Conan saw her attitude, he got mad. “Why are you throwing a tantrum? Do you have any idea how much time I had to waste to get these?”

“Mr. Stone, I never asked you to do those things. I’m leaving now and have no time to argue with you.”

He grabbed her arm. “Are you mad because of Rose?”

Ninian pursed her lips and said nothing.

Conan sneered. “I’m never going to marry you, no matter what. Does it really matter whether you’re a replacement or not?”

Those words hurt.

Ninian nodded. “It doesn’t matter, alright. It’s late now, Mr. Stone. I still have to go to work. Please let me go.”

Before she went to the company, she went to a hairdresser and cut the long hair Conan had asked her to keep for seven years.

She always preferred her hair to be at shoulder-length, so she cut it short.

Once she cut her hair, she felt lighter.

When she arrived at the company, she was already late, but she did not care.

Once her colleagues saw her, they gasped, “Ninian, you cut your hair? You look even prettier now!”

“Yes! Short hair suits you more! You look neat and professional!”

Ninian smiled. “I know, right? I like it too.”

She returned to her table, turned on her computer immediately, and typed out her resignation letter.

After she printed it out, she wanted to hand it to Conan.

He was not in his office. However, his driver was around to pick some things up for him.

She handed her resignation letter to his driver. “Please hand this to Conan.”

…

When Conan got her resignation letter, he was shocked. But once he recovered, he smiled. “Where can she go after leaving my side? She can’t survive without me. She’s just throwing a tantrum because Rose is back. She’ll calm down very soon. Ignore her.”

…

After she resigned, Ninian felt as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

She hailed a cab to go home, only to suddenly realize that her home was not actually hers.

Conan had given her the place, or rather, it was the place he used to keep his mistress, which was her.

Since Ninian had decided to cut all ties with him, she did not want the house anymore.

When she opened the door, Ninian smelled perfume.

It was the perfume Conan had given her. He had said that there was only one in the world, and it was made for her.

She seldom used it, because she could not bear to use it all.

She only used it when Conan came over.

She made her way to the hall, only to see the woman sitting on the couch.

“Rose.”

“Hello, Miss Springs.”

Rose had gotten into her house and was sitting on her couch.

In front of her was Ninian’s perfume.

“This is my house. It’s not right for you to barge into my place like this,” Ninian said in a hostile tone as she stared at her.

She hated people who dropped by unannounced.

“Your house?” Rose smiled and twirled the keys in her hands. “If it’s your house, why do I have the keys?”

She got up and went over to Ninian. “Are you seriously telling me that you don’t know that this house was actually meant for me? I didn’t want it, so Conan gave it to you instead.”

Ninian’s breathing stuttered. As she stared at Rose, she pursed her lips and clenched her fists.

Even the house was for Rose?

“This perfume too.” Rose picked up the bottle on the table and spritzed it in the air.

“Do you have a habit of touching other people’s stuff?” Ninian reached out to grab the bottle.

Out of all his gifts, Conan had put the most effort into this one.

Rose easily avoided her and said coolly, “How would you know that this is for you and not for me? Do you know the name of the perfume? It’s called Stone Rose. Conan hired a perfumer to make this for me. It’s one-of-a-kind.

“Miss Springs, I’m being nice and giving you a reminder here. It’s time for you to accept reality.”

Rose left.

Ninian was the only one left in the house. At that moment, she felt as if the place was like a cage, and she was the bird being kept inside.

Rose was right. It was time for her to accept reality.

She threw away all of the gifts Conan had given her, aside from the handbags.

After she found a new house she liked online, she intended to move.

Once her ex-colleagues learned that she was leaving, they could not bear to see her go, so they invited her for a karaoke session as a farewell party for her.

The party was at Crimson. Ninian arrived at 8 p.m.

When she opened the door, Ninian immediately saw Conan. Rose was beside him. She immediately wanted to leave.

“Ninian, you’re here!”

But she was too late. Someone dragged her in.

“Ninian, look at how respected you are! Even Mr. Stone has come!”

Ninian frowned. If she had known that he would come, she would not have come here.

“Mr. Stone, who’s the person beside you? Why don’t you introduce us?”

One of the executives who had been working with Conan for years teased him. Ninian looked up and saw Conan holding Rose’s hand.

“I forgot. This is my girlfriend, Rose Charlemagne. She just came back.”

At that moment, Ninian could hear her heart shattering.

She had been looking forward to Conan admitting that she was his girlfriend for seven years, but he declared someone else as his girlfriend instead.

Things got awkward in the room. Everyone turned to look at Ninian.

Over the years, she was the one who had kept Conan company, and everyone saw all that she had done for Conan.

They had thought that she was the one who would marry him in the end. Even Ninian herself had thought so.

“Come, let’s toast to Mr. Stone’s girlfriend!”

The people started cheering. Conan looked at Ninian. “What about you? You’re about to leave the company. Aren’t you going to drink at least once?”

Ninian’s stomach was weak, and it was all because she worked too hard for Conan.

The doctor had told her that she could not drink.

“I can’t drink.” Ninian looked down and picked up the glass of water on the table. “I’ll toast you with water instead, Mrs. Stone.”

She practically hissed the last two words.

Despite drinking the glass of water, Rose was not satisfied with it.

“You’re not willing to give Rose a proper toast after resigning? You don’t respect her at all, Ninian.”

Her resignation letter was still in the car. At the thought of her throwing a tantrum with him, Conan felt frustrated.